I
experienced the closest thing to perfection in acting expression
during a long-ago performance of The Last of the Red Hot Lovers.
I finally felt the character live through me. It was like she was
talking, not me. And I was powerless to stop it. Which could have
been quite scary because I was playing Bobbi, a whacked-out, pothead
erstwhile nightclub singer. But instead, I got a tremendous kick
out of watching myself be her. And I think it was the best performance
I ever gave. There was a reviewer in the audience that night. And
I got a glowing review in the L.A. Times the very next day.
Twenty-five
years after that breakthrough Bobbi performance, I was still trying
to define that illusive creative process of acting expression for
myself and for my acting students. I knew that it has something
to do with a shift into a deeper relaxation and state of consciousness.
In that emotional, physical . . . even spiritual . . . place, expression
happens. But what did an actor have to do to get there, I wondered?
And
then, within a week, it all came clear to me with the "Five-E's".
My therapist and ex-actress, Freda Rosen, added the pivotal middle
"E" during a discussion in one of our therapy sessions.
This middle "E" made the whole process make sense.
Sometimes,
when you're on a quest, information appears from places you'd never
expect. Magic happens.
I
began using these "Five-E's" immediately in my classes.
This structure for defining the steps to acting creativity and expression
has been incredibly helpful for my students. The first two steps
are about the creative mental, physical, and emotional decisions
that you have to make to create expression. The second two take
place on a spiritual and cellular level and involve the energy shift
that happens as a result of the intense work you've done. The last
"E" is what you want . . . acting expression as pure as
I experienced as Bobbi.
The
First-E—Explore
This is the goal-oriented part of this process. It's like writing
a business plan for creative success for your scene, monologue,
or entire role. Mentally map out your acting goals and the path
to them. With the "First-E", you can strategize things
like:
1.
Finding out about the character
2. Analyzing the scene
3. Finding the intention of the character
4. Deciding upon the adjustment you want to make in the scene
5. Deciding upon what sensory work or other creative tools you want
to use to create the reality of the scene
This
"E" helps to focus on intellectually on the tasks you
need to do to act. You map out your plan of attack for whatever
material you're acting. I like to start this plan of attack with
finding out about the character. I look in the script to find out
what characters say about themselves, what others say about them,
how they behave, and what the writer says about them. I use my imagination
and make up whatever isn't in the script to complete the picture
of a total human being.
I
can't tell you how powerful this process is and how it can instantly
catapult you to the "Fifth-E" of Expression. I once worked
with a 13-year-old girl to get her ready for her audition for the
Los Angeles High School of the Performing Arts. She was doing a
wonderful monologue from The Diary of Anne Frank. She was
good but I knew she could be better. So I sat down with her and
went over the entire script to find out about the character. After
we explored the character fully, she did the monologue again. It
became alive! She did her audition a few days later and passed with
accolades. I attribute her audition success to our work on the character.
It helped her rise far above a run-of-the-mill performance. The
more you mentally strategize, the better you can formulate your
"Second-E" work.
The
Second-E—Experience
The "Second-E" encompasses all the acting processes
or creative tasks you need to do to accomplish the "First-E".
When you act, creative tasks push you to physical, emotional, and
spiritual limits. They allow you to see the world from a deeper
state of consciousness that allows the rest of the "Five-E"
process to take place.
For
example, if you want to become a better actor, you might want to
study a specific technique, like Method Acting or improvisation.
If you study Method acting, for example, your daily "Second-E"
to-do list might be:
1.
Do fifteen to thirty minutes of relaxation exercises
2. Pick a Sense Memory exercise to work on, either one that you
know or one that your coach has assigned
3. Work on a scene using some Sense Memory exercises to create the
reality of the scene
"Second-E"
work builds physically, emotionally, and sensorially on the goals
and choices you make in the "First-E". I often tell the
story of one of my actors who did a monologue in class about becoming
a murderer. When I asked him what he was working on, he said he
used two Sense Memories to create the menacing nature of the character.
He knew, however, that these two sensories would overcome him emotionally.
So he used two other Sense Memories to counteract them so that he
could act the scene. I instantly turned and looked at another actor
in my class. And we raised our eyebrows simultaneously in salute.
We both knew that the actor understood how to use the power and
possibilities of Sense Memory as "Second-E" work. That
actor is currently shooting a substantial part in a big independent
film. I can hardly wait to see his wonderful, complex performance.
To
understand "Second-E" work better, I invite you to read
the article, "The Fives-Es—Creating a Character from Text",
coming soon in the October issue of Acting Magic.
The
Third E—Empty
When you have your goal in mind and you do the psychic and physical
work of experiencing it, a strange thing happens. You become more
focused and, as a result, begin to work from a deeper state of
consciousness. You might also call this inspiration. Actors
create their inspiration by going to physical, emotional and spiritual
limits. As Jerzy Grotowski said in Towards a Poor Theatre,
an actor is "a person who, through his art, climbs upon the
stake and performs an act of self-sacrifice".
What
might happen in this mystical process is that we empty ourselves
of many of the things that connect us to our pedestrian selves.
We block out the noises without—traffic, loud music, piledrivers,
lawn mowers—and the noises within—that committee of chattering
voices in our heads—and find a deeper place inside to be one
with our magnificent, authentic selves.
I
have seen this process time and time again in my acting classes.
I once had a student who literally jumped out of her chair when
someone in the class began to release tension through sound. She
later shared with me that she had grown up in a home where people
constantly screamed at each other and, as a result, she found yelling
almost unbearable. After a month of relaxation and sense memory,
however, she didn't hear the sound anymore. And she went on to become
a really good actress.
Mystics
have been doing the same thing for thousands of years through many
forms of meditation. But actors have a more difficult task in that
they have to stay in that emptied state while walking, talking,
and hitting their marks. It takes mystics years to attain Nirvana.
Since our task is more difficult, doesn't it make sense that the
REAL secret to incredible acting is perhaps a form of trance? Grotowski
talks a lot about trance in his book as a vehicle for giving yourself
to your audience. The greatest actors seem to put themselves into
a profound trance-like state of openness or awareness combined with
the fearlessness of being in the moment.
That's
why training is so important. Grotowski also said that "creativity
is . . . boundless sincerity, yet disciplined". Only by training
ourselves to get rid of all that extraneous stuff that clutters
and rules our lives can we finally get to creative expression.
The
Fourth-E—Energize
When you attain this emptier, deeper state an energy shift takes
place. You don't seem as weighted down by the world anymore. And
you've broken down some of the barriers that hold you back from
being an expressive actor. And you notice an intensity flowing through
you into your acting that's very different from what you experience
in everyday life.
This
"Fourth-E" is the result of the first two. And the child
of the emptied, trance-like state. You can't force it. It's the
result of training in the right way and allowing your talent to
blossom at its own pace. The actor who I talked about earlier had
great difficulty allowing this type of creative energy to flow through
him. He literally felt pins and needles in his arms from dammed-up
energy when he did sensory exercises, . When the dam finally broke,
all types of emotions came spilling out. Along with them came the
right flow of energy for him to fully express his craft.
You
can't get this type of training in casting director workshops. They're
much too focused on result. And may even keep you from fully expressing
your acting talent. The "Five-E" path to acting expression
lies in getting yourself a solid basis in a technique that works
for you for atleast six months to a year before you venture out
to these type of workshops.
I
sailed for many years. There's that place where you're heading perfectly
into the wind, where the sails are set just right, and sailing is
effortless. We used to call it "in the groove". When all
the preparation from the first two "E"s of this process
shifts your energy, you're acting "in the groove".
It's
difficult to explain, but easy to spot. Those actors who never strike
a wrong note in their acting are instinctively "in the groove".
You can be too with this "Five-E" process.
The Fifth E—Expression
This is what you want . . . that elusive connection
with the life of the character or the theatrical piece. Expression
in any art uplifts and transforms not only the people who do it
but the people who experience it. I don't know about you, but that's
what I'm in it for!
When
I saw The Hours, I understood why Nicole Kidman won the Academy
Award. She actually lived and lived in the part. I not only believed
that she was the character, but that she lived in the character's
environment. She was able to portray the ultimate expression of
the character to the audience. As a friend of mine who's a top voice-over
artist and currently the voice of a national ad campaign always
says, "she nailed it"!
You
can't intellectualize this quality of performance. It may start
in the mind but it ends up in the expression of the heart and the
unique energy of the actor.
You
have them. Those actors you idolize because they never strike a
wrong note in their acting. Or those you admire because they take
Herculean emotional and physical acting chances. Wouldn't you like
to be one of them? The "Five E's" can help you in that
process.
